Bottle stopper



' Sept. 20, 1960 J. J. JIMENEZ BOTTLE STOPPER Filed Nov. 12, 1958 E5.fiif I INVENTOR Y ,LM/ W ATTORNEY 2,953,210 Patented S P 1960 BOTTLESTOPPER jesus Jimenez Jimenez, Havana, Cuba, assignor to Jose Soto delLlano, Marianao, Cuba Filed Nov. 12, 1958 Ser. No. 773,293

7 Claims. (Cl.

The present invention relates to bottle stoppers. More particularly thisinvention relates to non-refillable bottle stoppers and to thecombination of a bottle with said stopper.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided anon-refillable bottle stopper comprising a hollow valve holder havingupwardly directed side walls and a bottom wall, the valve holder beingdimensioned to fit within the neck of the bottle, the bottom wall of thevalve holder having an opening therethrough in which is positionedmovable valve means closing the opening when the stopper is in anupright position, a vertically movable counterweight in said valveholder, the counterweight maintaining the valve in the closed positionwhen the stopper is upright, guide means for the counterweight andspaced inwardly directed projecting means on the interior of the sidewalls. The guide means may be a plate positioned on said projectingmeans and spaced above the counterweight. The side of the guide meansfacing the counterweight may have a recess for guiding and receiving thecounterweight when the stopper is turned from the upright position. Inthe preferred construction the counterweight is securely immovablypositioned on the projecting means by means of an apertured flange whichis fastened to the neck of the bottle by means of a ferrule.

When a bottle stopper having the above construction is positioned in theneck of a bottle and secured thereto, the contents of the bottle mayberemoved by inverting the bottle causing the counterweight to move awayfrom the valve means and thereby release the valve means to permit theflow of fluid out of the bottle. When the bottle is returned to theupright position, the counterweight closes the valve means and therebyprevents introduction of liquid into the bottle.

An object of the present invention is to provide a bottle stopper havinga minimum of moving parts which permits the removal of the contents ofthe bottle but prevents filling of the bottle.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a bottle havinga valve means which automatically opens when the bottle is inverted.

These and further objects of the invention will be readily apparent fromthe following description together with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical transverse section through the stopper of thepresent invention showing the stopper inserted in and secured to theneck of a bottle;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the upper flanged member;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the flanged member of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the guide for the counterweight of thestopper;

Fig. 5 is a plan view Fig. 4;

of the bottom of the guide of 'Fig. 6 is a plan view of the valveholder;

Fig. 7 is a vertical section of the valve holder taken along the line7-7 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a side view of the valve; and

Fig. 9 is a bottom plan view of the valve of Fig. 8

According to the present invention, there is provided a stopper having ahollow valve holder 15, said valve holder being generally cup-shaped,that is, it has upwardly directed side walls and a bottom wall. Thevalve holder is preferably frusto-conical or downwardly tapering inorder to snugly be received within the neck 10 of the bottle. The wallsof the valve holder are preferably sufficiently long to normally extendabove the upper extremity of the neck of the bottle to provide a spacefor the annular sealing gasket which may be made of cork or similarmaterial.

The bottom of the valve holder is provided with an opening 18atherethrough which communicates with the interior of the bottle and theinterior of the valve holder. Around the periphery of the opening is anupwardly directed flange 18 which provides a seat for the movable valvemeans 11 which is slidably mounted in the opening 18a. The valvecomprises an upper annular portion 11a and a downwardly dependingportion 11b of smaller diameter, the downwardly depending portion 11bbeing received within the opening. The periphery of the lower face ofthe annular portion 11a abuts the seat 18 to seal the opening when thestopper is in the upright position.

Above the valve 11 there is positioned within the valve holder 15 acounterweight 12 which is preferably ball- 'shaped. The counterweight 12is preferably made of ceramic material, such as porcelain or glass, orany other suitable material.

The interior walls of the valve holder 15 are provided with apluralityof spaced inwardly directed projecting means or longitudinal ribs 16which may be two, three, or more in number. Between the ends of the ribsthere are provided notches 17 which define a shoulder for reception ofthe guide 19 for the counterweight.

The guide 19 for the counterweight rests on notches 17 as shown inFig. 1. In order to maintain the guide 19 immovably secured to the valveholder, there is provided an annular sealing member or flange 21 ofsubstantially the same diameter as the upper extremity of the neck ofthe bottle. This sealing member or flange 21 is provided with acentrally positioned upwardly extending cylindrical portion 22 ofreduced diameter, the latter having a central opening 22a therethrough.The lower face of flange 21 has a plurality of downwardly dependingteeth 23 which may, for example, be six in number.

The guide or disk 19 has in its lower face a recess 20 to provide aspace which permits movement of the counterweight 12. The guide 21 is ofa smaller diameter than the interior diameter of the valve holder 15 toprovide a free space 17 which defines a passageway for the passage ofliquid from the interior of the valve holder to the opening 22a.

In order to assemble the stopper of the present invention, the valve 11is placed in position in opening 18a in the bottom of the valve holderand the counterweight 12 is then inserted in the valve holder. The guide19 is then seated on the shoulder defined by notches 17 and the flange21 is positioned t-hereover with the ends of the teeth 26- forcing theguide 19 in secure abutment with the shoulder. The abutting edges of thelower portion of the flange 2'1 and the upper edge of the side walls ofthe valve holder may be secured to each other by means of adhesive or byheat sealing. The valve holder and the flange are preferably made ofplastic material. The teeth 23 are dimensioned so that they immobilizethe guide 19 against notches 17.

When the stopper is to be secured to the bottle, the bottle is firstfilled with liquid, the gasket 13 is positioned on the edge of thebottle and the stopper assembly is inserted into the neck of the bottle.A ferrule 14 is crimped around the stopper and the upper end of the neckof the bottle to prevent removal of the stopper. If desired, there maybe provided an additional stopper (not shown) to close opening 22a whenthe bottle is not in use. When it is desired to obtain liquid from thebottle, it is merely necessary to tilt the bottle from the uprightposition permitting the counterweight and the valve to move away fromthe bottom of the valve holder, thereby providing communication betweenthe interior of the bottle, opening 18a, the interior of the valveholder, passageway 17 and opening 22a. This permits the liquid in thebottle to flow therefrom; When the bottle is returned to the uprightposition, the counterweight l2 urges the valve 11 against valve seat 18to close the stopper. It is evident from the above description that thevalve is only opened when the bottle is significantly tilted from theupright position. Since the valve is closed when the bottle is in theupright position, the bottle cannot be refilled by any normal procedure.

The guide '19 is preferably made from ceramic material, such as glass orporcelain, in order that it be impenetrable by sharp instruments whichmay be inserted through opening 22a. The lower face of the flange 21preferably has an annular recess 21a having a diameter substantiallyequal to the external diameter of the upper edge of the valve holder.This provides greater contact surface between the flange and the valveholder when they are secured to each other by adhesive or heat sealing.

It is evident that the free space in the valve holder between the upperpart of the recess 20 and the top of the valve 11 must be dimensionedrelative to the size of the counterweight 12 in such a manner that thelower portion 11b is not completely removed from the opening 18a whenthe stopper is inverted. In other words, the free vertical play of thecounterweight must not exceed the height of lower portion 11b of thevalve.

The ribs 16 in addition to providing shoulder means for reception of theguide 19 also serve to maintain the counterweight 12 outof contact fromthe interior walls of the valve holder. This construction is desirablesince it prevents the counterweight from impeding the flow when liquidis being poured out of the bottle. When the ribs 16 are to be used toserve this function, they should be at least three in ntunb'er.

What is claimed is':

l. A non-refillable bottle stopper comprising a hollow valve holderhaving upwardly directed side walls and a bottem wall, said valve holderbeing dimensioned to fit within the neck of a bottle, said bottom wallhaving an opening therethrough, movable valve means closing said openingwhen the stopper is in an upright position, a vertically movablecounterweight in said valve holder, inwardly projectingcircumferentially spaced longitudinal ribs on the interior of said sidewalls, said ribs providing shoulder means for a guide plate for saidcounterweight, and a guide plate separate from said ribs positioned onsaid shoulder means and means for securing said guide plate in positionon said shoulder means, the bottom of said plate having a recess thereinto provide free space for movement of the counterweight.

2. A stopper as recited in claim 1 where there is provided a flangemeans secured to the upper end of said valve holder, said flange meanssecuring said guide plate in position on said shoulder said flange meanshaving a central opening therethrough to permit passage of fluid fromthe interior of said valve holder.

3. A stopper as recited in claim 2 wherein said flange means hasdownwardly depending teeth which abut the upper face of said guide platefor maintaining said plate in position.

4. The stopper as recited in claim 1 wherein said guide plate is madefrom a ceramic material and said valve holder is made from plastic.

5. A non-refillable bottle stopper comprising a hollow valve holderhaving upwardly directed side walls and a bottom wall, said valve holderbeing dimensioned to fit within the neck of a bottle, said bottom wallhaving an opening therethrough, movable valve means slidably mounted insaid opening, said valve means closing said opening when the stopper isin an upright position, a movable counterweight in said valve holderabove said valve means, the weight of said counterweight biasing saidvalve means to the closed position when the stopper is in an uprightposition, inwardly projecting circumferentia'lly spaced longitudinalribs on the interior of said side walls, said rib extending upwardlyfrom said bottom wall, each of said ribs having a notch intermediate itsends, an annular guide plate separate from said ribs and immovablypositioned against said notches, the bottom of said guide plate having arecess therein to provide free space for the movement of thecounterweight, flange means secured to the upward end of said valveholder, said flange means having an upwardlyextending portion, saidportion having an opening therethrough communicating with the interiorof said valve holder, downwardly depending teeth on said flange means,said teeth abutting the upper face of said guide plate to immovablyposition said guide plate against said notches, the diameter of saidguide plate being less than the diameter of the interior of said valveholder to provide a passageway for passage of fluid.

6. In combination, a bottle havingliquid therein and a stopper securedto the neck of the bottle, said stopper preventing insertion of fluidsinto said bottle when the bottle is in the upright position butpermitting discharge of fluid from said bottle when said bottle isturned from said upright position, said stopper comprising a hollowvalve holder having upwardly directed side walls and a bottom wall, saidvalve holder being snugly fitted within the neck of said bottle, saidbottom wall having an opening therethrough, movable valve means closingsaid opening when the stopper is in an upright position, a verticallymovable counterweight in said valve holder, inwardly projectingoircumferentially spaced longitudinal ribs on the interior of said sidewalls, said ribs providing shoulder means for a guide plate for saidcounterweight, a guide plate separate from said ribs positioned on saidshoulder means and means securing said guide plate in position on saidshoulder means.

7. The combination recited in claim 6 wherein said stopper is providedwith flange means secured to the upper end of said valve holder, saidflange means immovable securing said guide means on said shoulder means,said stopper being secured to said bottle by a ferrule surrounding saidflange means and the upper extremity of the neck of the bottle, saidflange means having a central opening therethrough to permit passage offluid from the interior of said valve holder.

References Gited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,430,790 Taheny NOV. 11, 1947 2,750,061 Greene June '12, 1956 FOREIGNPATENTS 11,851 Great Britain May 18, i912

